Detroit street artists Ayem and Melo created a new mural on Grand River and Henry just north of Downtown with large stylistic letters reading, B-A-N-K-R-U-P-T-C-Y. The colorful piece is a statement on Detroit's recent cash flow problems. The artists used 8 different overlapping colors to create a 3-D effect. The mural was approved by the property owner at 2481 Grand River, currently a vacant building. The piece is currently unfinished according to the artists who spent 6 hours on Saturday completing the letters, July 20. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive.com)File photo | Mlive Media Group

"We think that we're on a different path," Brown said. "We're on a path toward solvency."

Brown outlined several reasons he thinks Flint's situation is different than Detroit's.

For example, Detroit's debt is colossal compared to Flint's.

Detroit owes more than $18 billion, more than 16 times its $1.12 billion budget.

That's a debt nearly 1,000 times larger than Flint's deficit of $19.1 million.

And Flint's deficit is not several times larger than its budget. It's actually a fraction of the city's annual budget -- $188 million for the 2014 fiscal year.

Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said the city intends to honor its debts and not file for bankruptcy.

"Flint has a path forward," Walling said.

The mayor also pointed out that the city does not have "near the level of bond debt" that Detroit has.

Also, Brown said, Detroit had borrowed from an assortment of different creditors, both public and private. Most of Flint's debt, however, is from the state of Michigan.

But U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Twp., spoke on the House floor July 24 warning that cities like Flint could be next, if long-term solutions aren't found.

"Perhaps not on the same scale as Detroit ... my own hometown of Flint, Mich., is on that same path. It is struggling every day to provide basic service in an increasing period of fiscal stress."

Kildee spoke on Detroit's bankruptcy filing, calling for a national conversation on how cities are supported and funded.

"This is a big issue, it's one that calls for a much larger national conversation and how we support our cities," he said.

While bankruptcy may have been necessary for Detroit, it is not a solution to the city's problems, he added.

"It may bring order to an otherwise chaotic situation, but it will not solve the problem itself."

It's a fair analysis, said Christopher Douglas, an economist at the University of Michigan-Flint.

"I think he's probably right in the sense that there are a lot of cities that are in trouble," Douglas said. "Flint's real similar (to Detroit) in terms of running a budget deficit for a substantial period of time.

"You can't do that forever."

Some of the same problems that crippled Detroit -- rising health care and pension costs and a shrinking tax base-- are a problem in Flint, too, Douglas said.

Flint does have an advantage in owing money primarily to the state, he added.

"The state of Michigan's probably more forgiving than the private bond market is," Douglas said.

Brown said legacy costs are a burden for the city of Flint, but he pointed out that they were able to reduce the city's health care liability by half a billion dollars in one year.

Eric Scorsone, an economist with Michigan State University, said unfunded liabilities are definitely a challenge for Flint, but the city's fiscal picture seems to be improving.

"Flint's finances clearly have been troubled," he said. "I think they have improved in the last year or two."